Payroll and Benefits Manager

ABOUT AVOCA Avoca is transforming how home service companies engage with their customers. Our AI-powered conversational agents handle every high-value inbound call, from booking jobs, qualifying leads, and driving higher revenue, all at a speed and consistency unmatched by human call centers. We're a Series B startup backed by Kleiner Perkins, Meritech Capital, General Catalyst, and other top-tier investors, with $125M raised and a $1B valuation. We grew 10x in 2025 and have scaled to 130+ employees in under two years across our NYC headquarters and Santa Barbara office. In a $1T+ market where 85% of missed calls go to competitors, we're building the category-defining platform for AI-driven customer engagement, serving the largest brands in home services. With high-energy, in-office teams in both locations, every hire here has an immediate and visible impact. ABOUT THE ROLE As Avoca scales to 300+ employees and contractors globally, we need a dedicated owner for payroll, benefits, equity, and compliance. This role will ensure the fundamentals are flawless — accurate payroll, smooth benefits administration, clean equity tracking, and compliant filings across jurisdictions — while building scalable processes and controls for continued growth. This is a new role reporting to the People Operations Lead. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own end-to-end payroll for U.S. and international employees and contractors - Manage employee compensation changes, including new hires, terminations, compensation adjustments, and off-cycle payments across currencies and time zones - Administer Carta equity workflows, including grants, vesting, exercises, terminations, and employee equity questions - Own multi-state and international compliance, including tax registrations, statutory filings, worker classification, wage and hour requirements, and equity-related regulatory requirements - Own benefits administration, including enrollments, qualifying life events, vendor coordination, employee questions, and compliance-related benefits processes - Monitor regulatory changes as Avoca expands into new states and countries, proactively identifying risks before they become issues - Reconcile payroll and equity with Finance monthly across all entities, and lead year-end compliance activities including W-2s, 1099s, and international equivalents - Serve as the primary point of contact for questions related to payroll, equity, and compliance - Build scalable processes and controls that can support 2-3x growth in headcount and geographic footprint WHAT YOU’LL BRING - 5+ years of experience owning payroll, equity administration, and related compliance, ideally at a startup scaling across multiple states and countries - Direct experience managing payroll and worker-classification compliance across multiple U.S. states and at least one international market - Hands-on experience with Rippling and Carta, or comparable payroll, HRIS, and equity administration systems - Strong process-building instincts — you’ve created controls, workflows, and documentation from the ground up, not just operated within existing systems - Advanced Excel skills and a detail-oriented control mindset for reconciliations, audits, reporting, and payroll accuracy - Clear, calm, and empathetic communication style when supporting employees through sensitive payroll, equity, or compliance questions - Bonus: CPP certification, global payroll experience, or deeper exposure to international equity and compliance requirements WHO YOU ARE - You’re meticulous, fast-moving, and trusted with sensitive details - You’re customer-obsessed and treat employees’ payroll, equity, and compliance questions with urgency, clarity, and care - You build order out of ambiguity by creating clear, repeatable processes - You’re proactive about risk and comfortable escalating issues early - You’re energized by working in person with a high-ownership team; this role is expected to be in office 5 days/week BENEFITS - Comprehensive medi…